Ikeade (Ike) Akinyemi is the Coordinator of Administrative Services at the Center for African Studies (CAS). Born in Nigeria, she is the middle child of five siblings in total. Ike received all of her education in Nigeria before briefly residing in Germany and the United Kingdom. She received her first degree in Education (1988) and second degree in Public Administration (1993) from the University of Ife. Ike and her family first came to the University of Florida in July 2002 after her spouse was offered an assistant professorship position in the then Department of African and Asian Languages and Literatures (AALL). She spent her first year settling into life in the US with her two children. Previously Ike had worked as a high school teacher in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. After that initial year in Gainesville, she was offered a position as an Adjunct Lecturer teaching Yoruba through CAS and African and Asian Languages and Literatures. Soon after, she was hired into the position of Office Assistant at CAS when it became available, and she spent her first year simultaneously working both positions.
After working in the Office Assistant position for more than ten years, the Coordinator of Administrative Services position became available. Initially Ike declined others’ encouragement to apply for the position. It was only after the second round of applicants that she put her name in the hat, and she was hired to the position in 2014. On Friday, April 21, 2017, Ike was honored with the Superior Staff Award as part of Dean Richardson’s Evening of Excellence in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Congratulations from all of us at CAS, Ike!